The Battle of The Labyrinth a twist in story
by whatisnate
Summary: Okay so this is about Fem Luke and Percy. so read don't-It wont make any differences really oh and if u hate it because u ship ship Percabeth or just don't ship Luke x Percy; then hear's a crazy idea DON'T READ IT! The reason I put it that way is because some people(not saying it's u) shoot others and their own ideas down. And to me that's not okay. So, yeah.(Rated M for sick sex)


Percy was in the lead until he heard Rachel call his name from a far. "Percy stop!" she called, Percy turned on his heal's about to protest when he saw Annabeth on the ground. "What happened?" he asked as he joined his friends. "She's dying..." said the son of Hades , making the two jump. "What do u mean!" Percy asked stunned. Nico rolled his eyes annoyed. "What part of she's dying did u not get _Jackson?_ " hissed Nico, Percy balled his fist.

Right before it could gey out of hand, Rachel stepped in. "Ladies, ladies your both gorges. Now, Annabeth is dying so I need u two boy to smat'in up! I'll lead from hear on, since I am the only one who can see the misty path to camp. Percy u carry Annabeth and Nico u stay in the back and gourd us. Now MOVE OUT!" she ordered, both boys looked at each other stunned, but other wise did as told.

-

"Almost there guys!" reported Rachel, Percy who had been holding Annabeth came to a dead stop, Nico felt a cold breeze wash over his body, he slowly looked over at Percy. "She's-n-n-not breathing-" stammered Percy. In that time, Rachel stopped to look back at the boys. Finally letting lose a sob. Nico hung his head and hit the dirt floor onto his knees. "She died of cancer Percy I'm-I'm so, so very sorry..." said Nico before crying. Percy sat down with Annabeth still in his arms. He looked at her sickly pale face and broke down himself.

An hour past before the group got moving again. As soon as the party of now three reached camp Chiron camp over asking about Annabeth, but as soon as he saw the looks on their faces his eyes widened and then teared up. "I'm sorry" chocked Percy as he placed the daughter of Athena down.

A FEW DAYS BEFORE:ANNABETH`S P.O.V  
"Put your cap back on," Percy said. "Get out!"'

"What?" I shrieked. "No! I'm not leaving you."

Even as I said it, I realised he was right. There were just too many telkhines. Either one of us fled with the cap, or the sea demons shredded us both.

"I've got a plan. I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider—maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on."

"But you'll be killed!" I tried to protest.

"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice."

I glared at him. Of all the times for him to be right for once…

But as I continued glaring at him, several details about him began popping out annoyingly at me, like how handsome he was (hey, you gotta admit – the guy's good-looking), how gorgeous the fiery light of the volcano made his sea-green eyes appear, or how heroic that determined glint in them made him look.

I felt like slapping myself. This was _not_ the time to worry about my teensy-weensy crush on my best friend. But at the same time I couldn't help thinking how incredibly sweet and courageous it was for him to be sacrificing himself for me like this, putting his life out on the line to protect me.

 _No, stop it_ , I chided myself. _He just cares about you as a friend._ We couldn't afford to waste time on this sort of drama. I didn't know if he thought of me as more than that. In fact, I didn't even know if _I_ thought of him that way. I wasn't even sure of my own emotions. If I went that way with him, I might just end up breaking his heart.

Then I took a second look at the teeming horde of telkhines, and my walls came tumbling down.

Who was I kidding? I'd had a crush on Percy since we were twelve. And…after going through so much with him…getting to know him so well…I guess it had grown into…well, more than a crush. True, I wasn't sure what I felt, but I was sure I felt _something_. Something _strong_. And…and now…even though he said he would be fine, we both knew that his chances of escaping without the cap were microscopic.

I might never see Percy again. I might never get to let him know how I really felt about him. And…okay, I'll admit it, I've had my fair share of fantasies about kissing Percy.

So, before I could change my mind, I leaned in, and quickly pressed my lips to his.

I was positively dizzy when I pulled away. His lips tasted like the sea. Kissing him felt even more amazing than I'd imagined it would. And the subsequent look of confusion on his face was incredibly cute.

"Be careful, Seaweed Brain," I said, then I put on the cap and vanished, preventing the situation from growing any more awkward.

Then the realisation that that was probably the last time I'd ever see him hit me with full force.

My eyes stung with tears as I fled towards the entrance to the Labyrinth. I didn't dare look back. It would hurt too much to watch Percy die.

"Let us see how strong he is. Let us see how long it takes him to burn!" I heard one of the telkhines say.

A knife of pain twisted in my heart.

"Oh gods, Percy…" I whispered, hot tears streaming down my face. The image of Percy engulfed in flames, slowly burning to death, curled up on the floor and screaming in pain, flashed before my eyes.

I was so tempted to turn around, but I had a horrible feeling that that was exactly what I would see.

I had just entered the Labyrinth when I heard it.

His scream.

It was a blood-curdling howl of pure agony that filled my veins with icy acid, smashed my heart to pieces, stopped me in my tracks, and brought me to my knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

I couldn't imagine the kind of pain that Percy must've been going through. I didn't want to. And though I'd known from the moment the telkhines showed up that he had barely any chance of surviving this at all, the thought that Percy might _actually be_ _dead_ tore me apart inside.

But I forced myself to my feet, my body still wracked with sobs. If Percy really _had_ given his life for me (I felt another stab of heartbreak at the thought), I wasn't going to let his sacrifice be in vain.

I steadied myself, and continued running through the corridor.

And then he screamed again.

This time, it wasn't a scream of pain, but a scream of raw, primal power, which seem to resound through the foundations of reality itself.

For a brief moment, all I felt was relief. Percy was still alive. Thank the gods.

Then my nostrils were suddenly filled with the scent of the sea, which made no sense at all, given that we were in a volcano.

And then I heard an enormous, resounding, watery crash, like a tsunami slamming into a beach, which made even _less_ sense.

And the volcano exploded.

I turned back to see it filled with white, misty gas, rapidly rocketing skyward. Was that…steam? Where had all of it come from?

I didn't have time to figure out. The tunnel shook violently, and bits of rock fell from the ceiling. Then a pile of rubble collapsed in front of the entrance, cutting me off from the volcano…and from Percy.

"NO!" I screamed, sprinting back towards the entrance.

I grabbed at the pieces of rubble blocking it off, pulling at them, but to no avail. The rocks refused to budge.

"Percy!" I screamed, hoping that somehow he'd be able to hear me through the rock pile. "Percy, please, answer me! Percy, are you there? PERCY!"

The tunnel stopped shaking.

I listened carefully.

Nothing.

"Percy?"

My voice echoed uselessly off the walls of the tunnel.

I fell to the ground again, fresh sobs in my throat, tears stinging my eyes once more.

For a brief moment, my hopes had been raised by the sound of his voice. Even though it was only a distant scream, at least I knew he was still alive. Then the volcano exploded, and my hopes were crushed to the ground. There was no way Percy could have survived that. That was it. He was gone. It was over.

I curled up in a ball against the rubble, sobbing and crying like a little girl.

Percy was dead. He'd given his life to save me.

The aftertaste of his lips still lingered mockingly on mine.

But Percy was dead. I was never going to see him ever again.

I don't know how long I spent there, just lying helplessly against the rocks, shedding miserable tears of despair and anguish, but when I got up, my thoughts were much clearer. Part of me still wished I'd been standing by his side till the very end, that I'd died with him, but most of me realised that Percy hadn't sacrificed himself just to save _me_. I had a report to deliver to Hephaestus.

And I also realised that, if he'd somehow managed to survive the explosion, he _might_ have landed safely in the water. Though the chances of that occurring were, admittedly, microscopic, at least I knew that he wasn't definitely dead. Just almost definitely.

I sighed heavily. We had a job to do, and Percy had (almost definitely) given his life so that I could succeed. I wasn't going to let him down.

I pulled out the mechanical spider and set it on the ground, flinching as it scurried off into the Labyrinth.

I took a deep breath, and began running after the automaton.

* * *

It didn't take long for me to get back to Hephaestus' workshop. The god was working on a bronze hippalektryon that we'd seen on our first visit.

The spider scuttled towards Hephaestus, and starting bonking its head repeatedly against the god's leg.

He bent down to pick it up.

"Visitors again? So soon?" he rumbled, turning around.

His eyes lit up when he saw me, then confusion flickered across his face.

"Wait…weren't there four of you before?"

Fresh tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them back.

"Yes, Lord Hephaestus," I said, trying to keep my voice as steady as possible.

He furrowed his brow. "So, the others…"

It was difficult to hold back my tears as I explained what had happened after he sent us on to the forge. His entire beard caught fire and his eyes turned black as cinders when I mentioned the telkhines, and he looked puzzled and stroked his beard when I mentioned the explosion. My chest hurt from the effort it took to stop myself from crying as I described Percy's (highly probable) death.

"Hmm…the lad's the son of Poseidon, is he?"

"Yes, sir."

"He might have drawn on his father's nature. Summoned the power of the ocean from within. That would explain the explosion, and the steam."

"Is he alright?" I blurted out. I'd been holding in that question from the moment I met the god.

I immediately felt embarrassed. I was worried that I was making how much I liked Percy a little too obvious. But apparently the god wasn't exaggerating about how poor his interpersonal skills were, because he didn't seem to notice anything.

Hephaestus frowned. "I don't know, my girl."

Although I'd been expecting that answer, my heart still sank when he said it.

"I'll go down to my forge and look around. Try to figure out what happened, and where he is now. But, in the meantime," he disassembled and reassembled the spider with incredible alacrity, "it'd probably be best for you to return to that camp of yours."

Hephaestus set the spider on the ground. I eyed it cautiously, out of instinct.

"Farewell, daughter of Athena. And thank you."

The spider set off, but as I turned to follow it, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had forgotten something important, something I had to ask the god.

But I couldn't put my finger on it, and the spider wasn't waiting for me. I hurried after it before it got out of sight, pushing aside my unease.

It moved at walking speed now, so keeping up with it wasn't so tiring. Hephaestus had been thoughtful enough to wire the spider to lead me through a monster-free path, so my journey was largely uneventful. And, at any rate, I was too tired to think, and too tired to feel. I just zoned out and trudged mindlessly behind the automaton until it stopped in the middle of a dark corridor.

I looked around, and realised where we were.

I felt myself blushing a little. This was the spot where Percy and I had fallen in before the quest started, where we…well, we sort of held hands.

Then I remembered what happened and the pain came surging back again. Tears pricked my eyes once again.

I looked down at the spider. It launched itself in the air, did a quick flip, then scuttled off into the darkness at top speed, each tap of its spindly metallic legs fainter than the last.

I sighed heavily, and felt around the walls for the mark of Daedalus. It wasn't long before my fingers traced the shape of the letter delta.

I pressed against the mark, which glowed blue, and the roof slid open. The skies were orange and purple.

"THEY'RE HERE!" someone screamed.

I blinked. What was he…?

Then I heard the blare of the conch shell, and I realised what was going on.

"THEY'RE COMING!"

"EVERYBODY! TO THE FOREST! NOW! BRING EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!"

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

"No! Stop! It's alright! It's just me, Annabeth!" I tried to tell them, but there was too much shouting going on up there.

So I waited until the others had quietened down first, all the while thinking how badly they would have been massacred had this been a _real_ invasion.

"Where are they?" someone asked.

"It's just me! Annabeth!" I called.

"Annabeth?" I heard Malcolm, my brother, ask. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me!" I shouted.

"What happened to Percy, Grover and Tyson?"

My eyes stung again at the mention of Percy's name.

"I-I'll explain later. Just get me out!"

Four campers pointed arrows down at me, then slowly peered over the edge.

"You're sure there aren't any monsters behind you?" one of them asked.

I scowled at him. "Yes, I'm sure. Now get me out of here!"

Chiron trotted up to the hole. "Annabeth?" he frowned, puzzled, looking down at me. "Where are the others?"

"I…" I felt my eyes growing damp.

Two campers lowered a ladder for me to climb.

I glanced at it, and then looked back at Chiron.

"Can we talk about this in the Big House?"

Chiron nodded gravely.

With a heavy sigh, I climbed the ladder.

* * *

In a few minutes, I was sitting with Chiron in the Big House with a cup of hot chocolate. I explained how we met Janus and Hera, Briares and Kampe, Geryon and Eurytion, the Sphinx, and finally, Hephaestus. I explained how Tyson and Grover split off from Percy and me, and how we found out about the telkhines.

My voice began breaking up when I got to the part where I was separated from Percy. I'd been able to appear composed in front of Hephaestus. He was, after all, a god. But not Chiron. I was too close to him. And I'd already been exhausted by the effort of keeping up that appearance while talking to Hephaestus.

"I…We...the telkhines….there were too many of them to fight off…and…and Percy…"

I looked down. Tears dappled my shirt.

Chiron put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"He distracted them, and told you to flee with your cap?"

I nodded miserably.

"So…so I did that…and….and then…after… after I reached the Labyrinth…I…I heard him scream…"

The awful sound of both Percy's screams echoed in my ears: the scream of agony when the telkhines were burning him, and the scream of…whatever it was that had accompanied the explosion.

 _The explosion that killed him._

I was barely able to maintain the coherence of my speech.

"And…and then…and then the volcano…f-filled up with steam, and…and…and it…it…"

"Exploded?" Chiron offered.

I promptly dissolved into bitter tears of grief.

Chiron remained silent until I had calmed myself down, which was a good thing, since I really don't think there was anything he could have said to make me feel better. He only gently and wordlessly patted my back until I was able to stop crying.

I sniffled and wiped away my tears when I was finally ready to continue.

"The…the entrance to the volcano collapsed, so…so I used Hephaestus' spider to guide me back to him. He…he told me he would go to the volcano and look for Percy, and…and also mentioned that Percy could have drawn on Poseidon's nature to summon the power of the ocean, which…which would explain the steam and the explosion."

Chrion nodded. "And he mentioned how to find Daedalus, yes?"

I felt the blood drain from my face.

"What?" I asked weakly.

"Lord Hephaestus requested the four of you to investigate his forge, and he promised to tell you in return where Daedalus could be found, yes?"

My mouth fell open. _That_ was what I had forgotten.

"I…"

Oh gods. How could I have been so _stupid_!?

Chiron's expression turned deathly grave. He knew that I knew the implications as well as he did.

We were not one step closer to finding Daedalus. Percy's sacrifice had been for _nothing_.

Chiron sighed heavily. "Get some rest, child. We'll talk about this in the morning."

I managed to stay strong until I walked out of the Big House. Then I tore across the camp, back to my cabin, sobbing uncontrollably. I was even more crushed than I had been before.

I threw myself onto my bunk and cried into my pillow.

Great. I'd finally gotten to lead a quest after _so_ long, and I had messed it up beyond belief. Tyson and Grover were off trying to find a god who had been lost for two thousand years. Without Percy, we had no way of contacting Grover, and thus no way of knowing if either of them was even alive. And Zeus knows Tyson and Grover aren't exactly a stellar team. And Percy…he'd lain down his life for me. And how did I repay him? By making his sacrifice completely useless. I was the worst child of Athena ever. I'd lost sight of the greater objective, and had been too preoccupied with trying to find out if Percy was alright to remember to ask Hephaestus to tell us how to find Daedalus, which had been the whole point of the quest. We were back to square one, except that Tyson and Grover were now gone, possibly dead, and Percy, probably dead. And the Titan's forces weren't any further from destroying the camp.

All because of me.

The sudden realisation that either Percy or Grover dying would kill the other because of the empathy link didn't do much to alleviate my guilt.

Percy had saved me so many times before. He'd rescued me from the sirens in the Sea of Monsters, when I was completely in thrall to them. He'd rescued me from _myself_. He'd single-handedly slain Polyphemus in order to save me from him after he had knocked me out. And, last summer, he'd travelled across the country, facing all kinds of impossible odds to rescue me from the Titan Atlas.

Somehow, he'd always manage to save us both, no matter how dire things looked. But I should've known that one day his luck would run out. One day he would have to choose, me or him. And on that day, he would choose to save me.

As he had done just now.

Tears burned my eyes. Oh gods, how could I have been so _blind_? I had always been attracted to Percy (like I said, he's good-looking), but I would always brush it off as "just a crush". But we'd gone through so much together. Quests…they brought people close like nothing else. They required you to trust and depend on the other person completely, and put your life in their hands. And it was during a quest, in that sort of life-threatening situation where the fate of the world rests in your hands, that you really got to know a person. That their true character shone through. I hadn't realised it until I'd been forced to admit it earlier today, but I had fallen in love with Perseus Jackson. It was impossible not to after spending so much time so close to him.

We could have had so much more. We could have _been_ so much more.

And now, he had (almost certainly) died for nothing, only discovering how I really felt about him in the last few minutes of his life.

And it was all my fault.

I buried my face in my pillow, tears of guilt and anger soaking into the fabric, as I slowly cried myself to sleep.

* * *

The next few days passed in a painful, tearful blur. I barely ate or slept, and cried more than I ever had in my life. I couldn't focus on any of the camp activities, and I spent most of my free time lying on my bunk, out of my mind with worry, sorrow and guilt. I tried to reassure myself by thinking about how there was that tiny chance that he might not have been killed in the blast, but that already-minute probability grew smaller with every passing day.

And then, finally, it happened. I was sprawled on my bed, alone in my cabin, my eyes puffy and red from crying so much. I was staring at the wall, hugging a pillow close to my chest and thinking about Percy, when I heard someone knocking outside.

I didn't respond.

I heard the door creak open, and then I heard the soft _clip-clop_ of Chiron's hooves as the centaur trotted towards me.

He laid a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"Annabeth, my dear…"

"Yes?" I sniffled.

Chiron sighed heavily.

"It's been two weeks, my child. We have not received a sign from Lord Hephaestus, or any of the other gods."

Fresh tears pricked my eyes.

"It is difficult to draw any other conclusion from the evidence," he continued.

Although I wished with all my heart that it wasn't so, I knew Chiron was right.

"I have assembled the rest of the campers."

Slowly, I turned over.

And when I saw what he was holding, my heart shattered like glass.

It was a long silk burial cloth. In my time at camp, I'd seen my fair share of them.

But this was a design that I'd never expected to see, ever.

It was sea-green, with the image of a trident embroidered on it.

The shroud of a son of Poseidon.

Percy's shroud.

Somehow, it had never occurred to me that my best friend, the most powerful demigod I knew, the first son of Poseidon in decades, could actually _die_ , just like that. Just like any other demigod.

I wanted to scream at Chiron. I wanted to slice up the shroud. I wanted to refuse to believe that Percy was dead.

But I couldn't. Because I knew he was right. It had been two weeks. And there had been no word on him from anyone at all. The odds of him having survived were vanishingly small.

I dried my eyes and got up. If Percy really _was_ gone, I was going to make sure he got a proper send-off.

 _It's time to burn a shroud for the son of Poseidon._

* * *

Chiron and I stood in the middle of the amphitheatre, next to the fire. I clutched the shroud in my hands, fighting back tears, as Chiron told the rest of the camp about what happened to Percy. But his words were hollow in my ears. My eyes were fixed on the flickering flames. I pictured them consuming the shroud, burning it away completely, leaving nothing behind. And then, against my will, the image of Percy being burnt to death by the telkhines flashed in my head, and I could almost hear that awful scream of his again.

It was like having a sword driven through my chest. I nearly broke down in tears once more, but I managed to maintain my composure.

Then Chiron finished what he had to say, and placed a hand on my shoulder.

I advanced shakily towards the fire, my hands trembling as I set the shroud on it. And, just as I had pictured, the flames engulfed the shroud, and turned it into a magical shower of sparks and smoke.

I watched the smoke rise and dissipate, then looked down at the fire.

The shroud was gone, just like that.

Percy was gone.

The realisation hit me with full force once again.

He was dead. That was it. It was the end. No more last-minute heroics. No more cunning tricks.

It was over.

I wanted so badly to crumple to the ground and bawl my eyes out, but I managed to resist. Barely. Fortunately, I'd cried it out over the past several days, or else I wouldn't have been able to hold back.

I addressed the campers.

"He was probably the bravest friend I've ever had," I managed to say. "He…"

And that was when I saw him, standing at the back of the amphitheatre.

Blood rushed to my face. It was like my heart wanted to explode with anger, relief and joy, all at the same time, but couldn't decide which.

"He's right there!"

Everyone turned, and the crowd went up in a collective gasp.

But the moment the words had left my mouth, I was sprinting through the campers, forcefully shoving people out of the way, my eyes stinging with tears once again. I wasn't sure which I wanted to do more: strangle him to death, or kiss his face off. I just needed to do _something_ to make sure that he was really there. Really alive. Really back.

Chiron got to him first.

"Well," the old centaur sighed, "I don't believe I've ever been happier to see a camper return. But you must tell me—"

I pushed past the last few campers between Percy and me.

There he stood, looking tired, a little confused, and annoying adorable as ever.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" I screamed.

I decided that I'd prefer to kiss the life out of him, but since the entire camp was watching, and he was no longer probably about to die, I settled for throwing my arms around him and squeezing him tight.

And, in that moment, holding Percy against myself, smelling the sea on him, and feeling his heartbeat against my chest, all the worry and pain that had been weighing on me for the past two weeks melted away.

Percy was alive.

Nothing else mattered.

I remember my subconscious noting the other implications of his return. I _hadn't_ messed up the quest as badly as I thought I had. Grover was still alive, at least, and we now had some way of contacting him. He might even have encountered Hephaestus and found out how to locate Daedalus.

But I swept aside all of these other concerns. All I cared about was the fact that Percy was safe.

I didn't let go of him until I realised that everyone else was silently staring at us.

"I—we thought you were dead, Seaweed Brain!" I said, my heart filled to bursting with relief.

"I'm sorry," Percy said. "I got lost."

He looked so cute and innocent saying it. But he still managed to change all that relief into anger.

"LOST?" I yelled. "Two weeks, Percy? Where in the world—"

"Annabeth," Chiron interrupted. "Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere more private, shall we? The rest of you, back to your normal activities!"

Before either of us could say anything, he picked Percy and me up, slung us on his back, and galloped off towards the Big House.

Percy's explanation essentially vindicated Hephaestus' theory. He'd used his innate oceanic nature to create the explosion, which had thrown him out of the volcano.

"Luckily, I landed in the water. Then I got marooned on an island, until Hephaestus found me and told me I could leave. A magic raft carried me back to camp," Percy told us.

I gazed at Percy. Something nagged at me from the back of my mind, something about how it didn't make sense for the son of Poseidon to be marooned, and something about magical phantom islands, but at the moment I was still far too relieved that Percy was back to be concerned about tiny matters like that.

"You've been gone two weeks," I said, my voice steadier and more composed than it had been ever since the explosion. "When I heard the explosion, I thought—"

"I know," he said. "I'm sorry. But I figured out how to get through the Labyrinth. I talked to Hephaestus."

My eyes lit up, and I felt a surge of relief. Percy _had_ gotten the information from Hephaestus. Our adventure _wasn't_ completely pointless.

"He told you the answer?"

"Well, he sort of told me that I already knew. And I do. I understand now."

Percy explained his idea: that mortals who could see through the Mist could also see paths in the Labyrinth. And that, therefore, we should recruit that girl from his school, Rachel, and use her as our guide through the Labyrinth.

My mouth fell open. "Percy, that's crazy!"

Chiron leaned back in his wheelchair and stroked his beard. "There is precedent, however. Theseus had the help of Ariadne. Harriet Tubman, daughter of Hermes, used many mortals on her Underground Railroad for just this reason."

To be honest, the more I thought about it, the more likely a hypothesis it sounded. But I was not anxious to meet Rachel again, because…alright, I'll admit it – I was a little jealous. Percy and I may not have been a couple, and I wasn't sure enough about my feelings to know if I wanted to pursue a relationship with him, but I was definitely in love with him. This whole demigod business was something that Percy shared only with me. It was our little secret, the thing that had allowed us to meet, the thing that would bring us closer together every summer. It was bad enough that he'd let another girl – a cute one at that – in on _our_ secret. And now he wanted her to come along with us on a quest, and let her in on even _more_ of those things that we only shared between the two of us. And Rachel's excessive friendliness with him didn't exactly ease my discomfort.

To make matters worse, I realised what had been bothering me about Percy's account. I remembered one of the stories Chiron had told me, about Calypso, the daughter of Atlas, and her magical island of Ogygia. Was _that_ where he'd been "lost" for the past two weeks? Had he been "marooned" there by an attraction to Calypso?

I didn't want to take any chances. I may have been unsure about my feelings, but I was certain that I loved him far too much to risk him slipping away. If Calypso could divert him like that, I didn't want to find out what Rachel could do.

"But this is _my_ quest," I tried to protest. " _I_ need to lead it."

Chiron looked uncomfortable. "My dear, it is your quest. But you need help."

"And _this_ is supposed to help? Please! It's wrong. It's cowardly. It's—"

"Hard to admit we need a mortal's help," Percy said. "But it's true."

I glared at him. Have I mentioned how much I _hate_ it when he's right?

"You are the _single most annoying_ person I have ever met!"

And, with that, I stormed out of the room, my emotions simmering inside me once more.

Funny how I'd gone from being worried sick about having lost him, to nearly overflowing with joy and relief at having found him again, back to being worried about losing him, but in a different way, in the span of less than half an hour. Just then I felt a pain in my chest...My time was almost up.

 **(A/N, hay. sorry if it's so sad. so just let us know what u thought of this first part. by Banana Jump!)**


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